Hey, I just wanted to give a quick heads up my next few days are supper busy, so I just wanted to say that I can't post until Thurday night, at which point i will do all my post, but I feel obligated to make my PPV match the number one priority. Just wanted to give a quick heads up.

Adrian couldn't help but laugh at Natalia's list of insults "please... you're too kind!" she said in between giggles as though she was being complimented on her skill. Her skill and being a cheating bitch but it was her best skill, so she rolled with it. "So... apart from losing to me, again, how's your day been?" she asked before trying to pry apart her pair of chopsticks before digging in.

With great difficulty.

stupid chopsticks, I need a spoon and a fork. she thought as she failed to pick up a dumpling.

Natalia pointed at Adrian with her chopsticks, frowning at her comment about losing again, and would have surely said something if she wasn't gagging with some food. The Dream coughed a couple of times before reaching for her Asahi beer can and opened up quickly as her cute face got redder. She gasped after taking a few sips and then took a deep breath.

"And the asskicking you are going to receive next time will be remembered through the ages." she warned giggling.

And then she bursted into laughter as she saw Adrian fumble with the chopsticks. Despite her voracious appetite, Natalia handled the eating utensils with a natural elegance... than she had learn in a rather unforgiving manner.

Natalia leaned forward and stole with her chopsticks the dumpling that Adrian had dropped to eat it, giggling as she did and almost choking again.

"And how you been doing?" Natalia asked grabbing her beer again. "I mean... besides falling from treadmills and getting kicked out of the gym?"

Adrian looked worried as Natalia started to gag on her food, breathing a sigh of relief as it passed with a sip of beer. She sounded as though she was holding up okay, although Adrian thought it would be best if she didn't rub in the "I beat you thing." too much, considering her friend's reaction when she got her first loss.

"I was not kicked out! I'm just not going back there until its been fumigated for whores..." Adrian whined, before her tone turned more solem "I'm kind of worried about a lot of things, whether this place is right for me, whether I actually have any skills other than cheating and getting people to think that I'm not serious about something... I mean I really give it all I've got in my matches but no matter how many times I win, because I'm still in the costumes and the like everyone thinks I'm a joke but I don't really want to give up the costumes but it gets to me sometimes. Like it did today."

"I'm worried about you, I mean ever since our match I couldn't stop thinking about how I was gonna make it up to you while part of me was annoyed that you didn't take me seriously either even if I did have to cheat like the bitch I am." She said sulking, her chopsticks just stirring around her food instead of picking up and eating anything "and I'm really worried about Rebecca, how she's been acting ever since I came to Japan."

Natalia let Adrian talk her mind while she kept on eating. Then she placed her food and chopsticks on the bed and crawled on her knees to Adrian to give her a cuddly hug, whether she wanted it or not. The Dream held the cosplayer against her for a couple of minutes before she started speaking.

"Look Adrian... I am really really sorry for not taking you seriously.... Specially sorry since I lost...and think if you really like your costumes and all that, you should definitively stick to them. No matter what people think." Natalia said while she kept holding Adrian.

"And seriously, don't worry about me. I am a big girl and can take care of myslef...even from mean heel cheaters like you." she added giving Adrian a kiss on her forehead.

Adrian nuzzled against Natalia's hug, letting her words try and sooth her fears away. Her meeting with Taylor had done a number on her confidence, even though she hadn't shown it, but Natalia, even if she called her names occasionally, was trying to bring her back. "Mean?" she asked, eyes resembling that of a puppy dog "I'm not mean, am I? I cheat and I get the crowd to boo me a lot but I'm not mean, right?" the cosplayer asked again, trying not to blush from the kiss on the forehead. Before she came to the difficult question about her best friend.

"Well it's... you know how she tried to hurt you when you first met? Because you... you know, the interview thing? She's kind of like that with everyone I meet, she wants to take on the world so I don't have to, and it's getting her beat up a lot. She's tough, really really tough, but she's not invincible, and I want her to stop trying to be before she gets really hurt." Adrian admitted, she probably wouldn't have mentioned Rebecca to anyone else but there was something about Natalia that just made her spill her life story at the drop of a hat "That and she's been kind of more aggressive ever since stepping foot in Japan, I mean she's always had issues with stopping herself but it used to be that I could stop her just by whispering in her ear, but twice I've had to put myself in harms way to stop her... I'm scared Nat."

"I'm scared of her, I'm scared for her, I'm just scared because I don't know what to do or how to tell her this because she was my only friend for so long and I..." she broke off before burying her face into Natalia's shoulder with sobs. Never mind the matches, the beatdowns or anything, that had been the hardest thing to do.

Natalia leaned back to lay on the bed and make Adrian lay on top of her, hugging her gently but very very closely; she even brought her legs up to wrap them around Adrian but NOT to scissor her. The Dream rubbed Adrian's arms and back with her hands trying to confort her, giving her a few kisses on the top of the head.

"You aren't mean, Adrian... Which makes me wonder why you try so bad to be bad" Natalia said petting her friend's head.

"And Rebecca..." Natalia made a pause and sighed, taking a second to think how to say it. "I think you are not the only one scared. She is, maybe more than you. Joining the AFW isn't easy. It is a whole different level of competition. People here are waaaay meaner than in the US... Add to that being in a different country... And well. I am thinking she is terrified... And when you are terrified there are only two things you can do, run or fight. She has chosen the second."

Adrian let out a small "Eep!" as she was softly pulled down into Natalia's embrace, for once not feeling threatened when her strong legs coiled around her, just a bit surprised at the added layer of intimacy Natalia gave her hugs. "She's scared?" she asked softly, "do you know what she's scared of?" she didn't really get it: if what Natalia said was true, and she doubted The Dream would lie to her just to make her feel better, then what did the amazon have to fear? Just being around other people? Getting beaten up? what?

"That, I don't know. We can speculate... But in the end... Only she knows what is making her feel helpless...and behave so violently"... Natalia said holding Adrian very close to her. The Dream indeed had very weird ideas about intimacy. "Trust me... I know about fear and how it can control your life..." Natalia added with a gloomy serious tone and then squeezed Adrian a little harder as if she was a plush toy. She needed that hug maybe more than Adrian. A cold sensation had begun to sneak along her spine, but the hug made it go away.

"Is going to be very hard to help her...tough amazon types like her aren't going to easily admit they are scared." Natalia continued. "But if someone can confrot her about it... That's you..."

"Really?" Adrian asked, tears leaving red streaks down her face, before she tried to hide them in Natalia's chest. "Did... did anyone help you when you were scared?" she asked her, squeaking slightly as she was squeezed tightly into Natalia "I... you can tell me about it right? I mean we're friends... aren't we... I wouldn't have told you what was scaring me if we weren't, right?"

"But you're right," the cosplayer resigned, she knew she'd have to confront Rebecca about how she's acting before something really bad happens to her. "I'll talk to Rebecca, but could you... maybe come with me when I do it, just to make sure I don't chicken out of it?"

Natalia cuddled with Adrian, now they looked almost like a ball. "Well... No... I didn't got much help..." The Dream said sadly. "And... Yes, I definitively consider you my friend, Adrian. But... It is difficult to explain..." Natalia said, clinging to Adrian firmly. "Lets just say I was an orphan and my childhood wasn't very happy. But please... Don't make much of it... Is nothing. Really. I'm fine." The Dream kind of explained. If there was something she hated was having people feel pity for her.

Natalia nodded and kissed Adrian's forehead"Sure... I'll be with you when you decide to talk with her."